Campaign to oust Barclays boss Agius

Barclays chairman Marcus Agius is facing growing pressure to announce his retirement from the bank's board ahead of its annual shareholder meeting next month.

The campaign to oust him is reportedly led by Legal & General, which holds a 4.5% stake in Barclays. But other shareholders are said to be keen to avoid a row, calling it "unhelpful".

The entire Barclays board has been forced to stand for re-election at the meeting on 23 April after its decision to raise £7 billion from Qatar and Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth investors last autumn rather than take a Government bailout.

Existing investors complained the shares were sold too cheaply and forced the bank to allow them a partial clawback on the deal.

Analysts and investors are also concerned that the level of disclosure from investment banking offshoot Barclays Capital is not good enough.